MIDDLETOWN — Scott Meeker is starting to get the hang of running Middletown South's triple-option offense.

Meeker leads Midd. South past Wall

 

By STEVEN FALK • STAFF WRITER • October 16, 2009

The Eagles' junior quarterback ran for 159 yards and a touchdown and also threw for 90 yards and a TD to lead Middletown South, ranked No. 2 in the Asbury Park Press Top 10 Poll, to a 26-9 win over Wall on Friday night in a Federal Division game at 'The Swamp."

Meeker, who has thrown for 563 yards and seven TDs, had just 96 yards rushing entering Friday night.

Meeker's TD run was a 60-yard keep off a trap option to the left and gave the Eagles (6-0, 4-0) a 19-3 lead with 5:58 remaining in the third quarter. The TD came three plays after Joe Simone had blocked a Wall punt out of the end zone for a safety.

"They were coming hard all day," Meeker said. "I was getting a lot of opportunities. I knew this was a big week for me running the ball because they (Wall) usually try to take the fullback out of the game. I got behind Tyler Diodato and Dylan Zimmerman, who pushed guys out of the way."

Meeker began the Eagles' final TD drive with a 15-yard run.

One play later, he threw an 18-yard pass to senior wide receiver Brian Benedetto on a seam pattern and concluded the 62-yard, six-play drive with a 27-yard TD pass to 6-foot-3 senior wide receiver Scott Simonson on a fourth-and-8.

"Scotty (Simonson) comes through again," said Meeker, who threw a key fourth-down TD pass to Simonson late in Middletown South's 21-10 win over Freehold on Oct. 2. "I know there's a bigger window when you throw to him because he's a lot wider and a lot longer."

Middletown South, which will play at No. 8 Neptune (3-1, 3-0) a week from today in the game that will determine the Federal Division champion, had built its halftime lead on a 46-yard TD run by junior Kyle Bunge (97 yards on 12 carries) with 1:23 left in the first period and a 20-yard field goal by Connor Ryan with nine seconds left in the half.

Bunge and Meeker set up Ryan's field goal with runs of 28 and 11 yards, respectively.

Wall (3-2, 2-2) had pulled within 7-3 on a 32-yard field goal by Tim Mullooly with 9:55 left in the half. That field goal was set up by a Steve Cluley-to-Jahvon Richardson completion.

Cluley, a sophomore, and senior wide receiver Fred Sprengel Jr. accounted for the Crimson Knights' TD when they connected on a 39-yard TD pass with 6:31 left.

With the Neptune game on the horizon, it would have been easy for Middletown South to look past Friday night's game against a rival it has now defeated eight straight times.

"I was preaching to my teammates all week that we can't take this team lightly," said senior linebacker Sean Campbell, who led a defense that held Wall to just 34 yards rushing and 162 yards of total offense. "Unfortunately, I think we did